2009-04-06

#8: The Brent EffectI mentioned this one yesterday, the followup to the disappointing Grey Cup episode. Anyways, Lacey tries to bring her and Brent's relationship "down" from the almost-kiss in the first season finale, but it seems odd to her that Brent agrees and was planning to talk to her about it as well. This leaves Lacey unsure of exactly why Brent was unwilling to pursue her. Karen and Wanda try to convince her to just move on from "the sting of rejection", but Lacey just won't let it go. In the end, she stumbles across a "Dog River truth" that her Toronto-grown mind cannot quite handle: Brent is hot. Sure Emma believes it (one of the best Emma lines in the entire series when she explains "he's so good looking. too good looking, really"), but she's his mother. Er, but Karen and Wanda believe it to. Hank begrudgingly accepts it, and soon Lacey is left trying to figure out what's wrong with the town. Her argument: adaptation. We see Dog River's non-Brent men in a group (Fitzy, Davis, Hank, Oscar, and a bunch of old farmers) as Lacey voiceovers how Brent isn't "completely flawed" and therefore seems hot to the poor denizens of rural Saskatchewan. Viewers left thinking this is a gag at Lacey's expense discover that in her absence the story isn't recanted: Brent truely is the gold standard of Pickerel Valley. Naturally the episode ends with Brent's gluttony on display and a prime example of the clever wordplay the series sometimes throws at us: "what don't I like about them? Actually I don't like..."Honourable Mention: Census SensibilityTeaming Oscar and Hank up isn't always a recipe for success, but its a fairly reliable trick. This time Fitzy needs the census done, and usually Hank volunteers. Then Hank usually screws it up and Fitzy's left holding the bag. So for a change of pace, Oscar is being added in to bring some experience. Oscar? Yikes, I guess the number of people willing to work for stipend from the town they love is a little on the slim side. Brent gets some of his good work in with the meal replacer bars storyline, and other than Lacey's Three's Company inspired misunderstanding of Karen and Davis relationship, the episode is solid. Best parts include the "sticky situations" gags, the results of the aptitude test ("I was figuring out my sass factor!"), Fitzy's firings,and of course Oscar's census performance ("Head count! One... and a half!") Oscar/Hank's rookie/veteran and good cop/bad cop routine ripped right from movie cliches was a good way to handle it. Meanwhile Oscar's "people's census" lets the creators avoid mentioning the actual population of the town... not that it probably matters.

#100: Cable ExcessHank eggs a van and gets to egg it again in front of the police as he "reenacts" the crime. Oh, also the end scene shows that just a still frame at the Saskatchewan horizon is a good replacement for that fireplace the cable channel shows at Christmas. There, you've heard the good parts of this episode. Everybody in town decides to put on a show: the women all want to do "The View" (or as close as they can get to avoid a lawsuit-happy/geography-deprived American). Davis and Karen want to do crimestoppers. Oscar wants to complain about other shows the cable station airs. Most of the bickering and most of the audition tapes are lame and hard to watch.

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